Borked Internet Explorer

[Spamlet]

I suppose you did try System Restore, before all this?

And check the Events log for clues as to what exactly is failing?

And it is also handy to have the free 'power tool' Process Explorer running, because a lot of times programmes don't appear to be open they are actually running but looking for something they can't find. PE has handy properties sheets for each process, which can help you track down what is really going on.

Also, some stuff that one takes for granted in XPPro only works for the Administrator in safe mode, on Home (the Security tabs on properties sheets for example), so it's worth trying any installing and uninstalling experiments from safe mode.

(I never could find why my IE 8 just says 'connecting' for ages though.)

Good luck,

S

[dennis]

If you have Spybot S&D installed it can take a while to process the 100K+ entries it puts in the host table for every new site it accesses. Its a lot quicker to put the hosts in a local DNS server and point at that.

[Tim Lamb]

Umm.. That's interesting. I have Rapport!

Ta.

[Tim Lamb]

In message , Robin writes

That sounds a bit technical for me:-)

This is XP Home and ISTR there were doubts about installing SP3 so I may not have done it.

regards

>

[Tim Lamb]

I tend to use a few sites regularly rather than search for new stuff.

Firefox seemed a bit quicker than IE 8.

Google has always seemed anxious to tell me what it thinks I want to know! Rather annoying.

regards

[Tim Lamb]

In message , Spamlet writes

Yes. I tried 3 dates none of which could be restored.

er no. I switch it on and expect it to work.

Thanks. It sounds as though ditching Rapport might allow me to use IE 8 particularly if it can't be easily removed post service pack 3.

regards

[John Rumm]

Now you have a working browser, you can search for solutions! ;-)

[Roger Chapman]

You may be remembering the thread I started after I had installed the beta version (I didn't realise it was the beta) from a cd provided by a friend and ended up with the dreaded blue screen.

I was very impressed (and indeed touched) by the help and advice I received on here and the problem was successfully sorted although I have to confess I have got no further with ubunto which remains outside my comfort zone. IE I use for mail because that is the default for btinternet. (zetnet is long gone).

SP3 was later installed without any further problems (or hysterics) but then I don't have rapport

Is chrome really so much better than firefox or just more minimalist?

[Tim Watts]

Chrome is leaner and there are rather less available extensions to bugger it up with :)

But the last time I tried, it periodically ate all my memory and needed killing. I might try the latest version...

[dennis]

I have Rapport and IE8 and they work together. I don't have NT so I can't comment on your problem but it isn't just having Rapport but some interaction of OS and Rapport.

[Robin]

I don't think anyone claimed it was as simple as that. For example, we have Rapport on other machines running Windows 7 and Vista (both 64 bit) and they were fine; and this machine was (and is) fine with Rapport installed but stopped.

As for NT, I'd be surprised if Trusteer supported it: they are after all in the business of end users for online banking.

[Robin]

Second attempt? I'm impressed. There's a lesson for me here: when a PC is borked get on with something else wait 12 hours then look in uk.d-i-y for solution ;)

[PeterC]

If the Hosts file is big (I have SS&D and the ad. servers' lists - tolat just under 200k entries) disable the DNS Client service as well, otherwise it'll take an age to resolve.

[Spamlet]

Not wishing to steal the thread, but not sure what you mean my this: what would I have to do to move the hosts file, and where to? It says 'connecting' for ages even to the blank page on this computer, so should not need to visit any sites. I assumed it was probably MS or Google, insisting on trying to go there first even if I do specify blank. (No matter how many times I delete Google Update/Toolbar Notifier and all their folders, they just keep coming right on back, and wasting start up time.)

S

I have the DNS client set to manual, and it does seem to stay off.

S

[Spamlet]

Bit worrying that! Hope hard drive is working properly, not nearly full, and your valuable data is backed up to another drive.

If it's a relatively small laptop drive, it's worth moving stuff you are not constantly using to another drive; cleaning thoroughly with something like the free CCleaner, and then defragging. I find the free JKDefrag very handy - and pretty well essential if using the laptop for working on video or audio files.

S

You are missing out on a handy diagnostic feature then, that only takes a minute or two to check. Just right click My Computer/Manage/Event Viewer, and you will find log files for applications, Internet Explorer and System. These go back some time, and you can often page down and look for the exclamation marks where things have gone wrong, and open the properties sheet for each, for a description. You will, most times, need a working browser or spare computer to be able to search for solutions that others have found to your problem though...

S

[chrisj.doran]

Last time I installed Firefox and Chrome they did indeed both have memory leaks and needed restarting regularly. The save/restore session was invaluable there.

Does anyone know whether either of them "call home"? The reason I ask is that shortly afterward installing Chrome my daily bandwidth consumption went from 10-20Mb to well over 100, rapidly exhausting my monthly quota. I never managed to track down the culprit (could have been something else) and in the end I had to disconnect from my ISP when not surfing, which was a bit of a pain. The computer on which this happened died, and my new one (with only IE8) is now back to

10-20Mb. But I don't have the courage to retry them.

Chris

[The Natural Philosopher]

Firefox may check updates if configured. Other than that no.

Uness you leave it on an autorefresh page..like my boloody wife does..

not used chrome.

Mem leaks petty low in Linux firefox, if existent at all.

Not left XP firefox up for any length of time. Dont leave XP itself up either..

[Tim Lamb]

In message , "dennis@home" writes

My recollection is that I was reading mail (Turnpike) and clicked on a URL from E Bay notifying a watched item near time out. Normally this would bring up IE 8 and eventually the sale item page.

I think IE 8 failed to start so I clicked the URL again. Still nothing. When I tried to shut down the computer, IE.EXE was not responding and had to be shut down manually.

Thereafter refused to start or respond in any way that I understand:-)

regards

>

[Robin]

Have you tried simply stopping Rapport? In the Start menu there should be a group "Trusteer Rapport" with a link to "Stop Rapport". It'll open a box asking you to type 6 characters; do so and click "Shutdown". (Don't ask why they change from "Stop" to "Shutdown"; they're geeks.) Then try IE.

[dennis]

When you first go to a site the computer does a DNS resolution to get the IP address from the name. First it looks in the hosts file, then it goes off to the DNS server you have specified. If the host file is large, which it can be if you are using Spybot S&D, it can take a while to search the hosts file for each site on a page (some sites load images from one place, text somewhere else, adds somewhere else...).

You can put the hosts file on your own DNS server and let that do the searching. Doing so can be quicker if the DNS server is optimized as most are.

That sounds bad, are you sure its not a virus rather than google?